In April, Technip signed a lease for the 17-story Energy Tower III, which is still under construction. The Houston-based U.S. operations of the French energy services company will occupy 428,831 square feet. The lease was an expansion for Technip, which is already a tenant in Energy Plaza.

The Technip deal and the newly announced building represent the significance Houston's energy industry has on the local property market.

Office demand has been booming in west Houston, where vacancy for high-end space fell to less than 1 percent in the second quarter, according to a report from Avison Young, a commercial real estate firm.

The Midland boom

The energy boom in Midland, population 95,000, is resulting in some Houston-size real estate developments.

Last week, an architect presented plans for what would be the largest building in downtown Midland to a roomful of oil and gas and real estate executives at the Houston Country Club.

Audience members included a developer who is proposing to build another large project in the West Texas town, whose economy is undergoing an enormous upswing amid drilling and other energy-related activities in the Permian Basin.

Houston-based Satterfield & Pontikes Construction plans to build almost as much office space proposed in the downtown tower in a separate project called Energy Plaza at Westridge Park.

The two developments can't be more different when it comes to image.

Energy Plaza would include five 100,000-square-foot buildings, each with four stories. Energy Tower would loom over downtown, rising 58 stories.

Energy Plaza is slated for a 19-acre parcel outside of downtown. Energy Tower would be built on two city blocks.

The projects have one thing in common: They're both looking for tenants.

Neither developer seems worried.

"There's no space in the market," said Ron McWherter of CBRE, which is marketing the Energy Plaza buildings space.

Alan Feinsilver, director of development for Satterfield & Pontikes, said the company hopes to break ground by year-end with some tenants already lined up.

"We have significant interest at this point," Feinsilver said of the project, which is planned in a business park near the intersection of Texas 191 at Loop 250.

An official from Colliers, the real estate firm leasing space for Energy Tower, said the project could break ground in January.

New Fiesta concept

The Fiesta grocery chain is branching out with a concept that will compete in the higher-end grocery market.

Fiesta Market Place will open a store in Sugar Land on July 17 that will offer a number of first for the Houston-based chain.

It will be the first Fiesta to have cooks and a chef on hand; and for the first time the grocer will offer Caribou Coffee drinks and Red Mango frozen yogurt and smoothies.

Fiesta is known for its international offerings, and the new store will cater to the area's ethnic population as well, said David De Kanter, director of business development.